


It's Almost Everything I Need

by goddamnitkastlewrites



Category: Daredevil (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-02-28 06:19:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18750757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goddamnitkastlewrites/pseuds/goddamnitkastlewrites
Summary: First posted to goddamnitkastle.tumblr.com on May 8, 2019.The original summary is below:"Counting Crows, my go to angst music, once again slapped me in the face with Kastle feels. This time it was Sullivan Street.Post TPS2, a fraught reunion between these dumb-dumbs who will hopefully just figure it out one day. In a perfect world, something like this would’ve been part of TPS3.Enjoy!"





	It's Almost Everything I Need

“Can you come pick me up?”  
  
He has no right to ask. He knows it and he’s pretty sure as hell that Karen knows it too. He can’t believe she picked up his call, she should know better…  
  
“Where are you Frank?”  
  
Of course she’d come for him.  
  
“Sullivan Street, Brooklyn.”  
  
“I’ll be there soon.”  
  
It takes almost an hour but she pulls up against the curb and he climbs in.  
  
“Who’s car is this?” Frank asks.  
  
“It’s mine. Had to get a new one after... well you were there. I think you remember.”  
  
He notes her hostility but doesn’t say anything. He deserves it. And he does remember. Even after crashing into her car that night she trekked through the woods to find him, believing he could still be redeemed.

“Where’re going?”  
  
“Just drive Karen.” He curtly answers as he buckles his seat belt.  
  
“Frank I don’t...”  
  
“Just head back to the Kitchen then. I’ll tell you when to drop me off.”  
  
She sighs as she puts the car into drive. The sun is starting to set, the long shadows beginning their crossing along the roof of the car. He licks his lips and tastes blood. He managed to forget the fight while waiting for her. Although ‘fight’ might be too generous for what happened. The other guy has two broken legs now and Frank just walked away with a split lip.  
  
“Who did that to you?” Karen asks.  
  
“Some piece of shit mobster... was beating up his wife and kid.”  
  
He chances a glance at her. She nods, turns her attention back to the road. If she’s trying to hide a smile he can’t tell.  
  
“Nice to know that your code hasn’t changed.”  
  
“I don’t have a code Karen...”  
  
“Yes you do.”  
  
Frank wants to argue but decides to drop it for both their sakes. They’re at a stoplight when he looks over at her again. That was a mistake, there’s so much regret in her features.  
  
“Hey Karen... I’m sorry...”  
  
“For what, exactly? For calling? For choosing your war over me? I could go on, I have a list.”  
  
“Do you now?”  
  
“Yeah. I’m still waiting for an apology about my car.”  
  
“Oh for Christ’s sake…”

“I mean it.”

“Well sweetheart. I got bad news, you’re not getting a dime from me for that.”

“Who said I wanted your money? Also I didn’t know vigilantism actually pays.”

He can’t help himself, he chuckles. She scowls and he stops immediately.

“Okay, I get it. You’re upset, I don’t blame you...”  
  
“You’re goddamn right I am.”

“But this ain’t about your car. It never was. Just… say what you really wanna say and cut it out with this dancing around bullshit?”

She scoffs, swipes her hand quickly across her cheeks.

“You know... when you called, I got hopeful. Yes after months of not hearing from you, not knowing if that day at the hospital was going to be the last time I would see you, my heart… surged at your voice. I thought you would tell me you were done. That you had finally...”

“What Karen?”  
  
“Had enough. And wanted peace. Wanted me.”  
  
They’re crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. The headlights flash past, providing levity from the shadows that surround them. But even in the dark her eyes are a beacon; a sea he wants to drown in willingly. She bites down on her bottom lip, rests her head into her hand while the other grips the wheel.  
  
“You’re right. That’s why I called. To tell you that... you were right. The war... it’s hollow. Killing has never brought me anything. No misery, no joy, no peace. It was just something to occupy my mind, my hands so I wouldn’t have to think about Maria, Lisa, Frankie...”

His voice chokes on their names. It always will, no amount of time will mend that.

“I’ve known that truth for a long time. But I didn’t want to let it go. I didn’t know... what to do or who I would be if I didn’t have it anymore.”  
  
Karen pulls over on a street off 9th Avenue. She turns the key one rotation counterclockwise, leaving the radio on but the engine off.

**_Love is a ghost train, rumbling through the darkness  
Hold on to me, darling, I've got nowhere else to go_ **

He wants to ask her about the song that’s playing but she looks over at him and the question becomes irrelevant. The tears have dried but he knows one wrong word and she’ll kick him out of the car.

“I told you we can figure it out together.”  
  
“Yeah, that offer still good?”  
  
“Frank...”  
  
“Karen.”  
  
“I’m serious.”  
  
“I know you are. Do you... take it back?”

She squints at him in confusion.

“Take back...?”  
  
“Take back what you said. At the hospital.”  
  
Her mouth drops but she closes it quickly.  
  
“What are you...”  
  
“Come on, don’t do that. You said it, I think it went ‘doesn’t matter what I did, it doesn’t change how I feel about you.’ I understood what you meant. You were about to get on you knees and sacrifice yourself to some goddamn alter that would save my soul. Make me a good man again. And I want to be that for you but... it’s not gonna be now. It may not even be in this lifetime.”  
  
He takes her hand in his. She doesn’t fight him.  
  
“We won’t know until we try.” she says with a reassurance that hits him harder than any punch or kick.  
  
_Stubborn as ever._   _It’s gonna come in handy_  he thinks.  
  
His thumb brushes along her knuckles.  
  
“I wanted to kill him. The guy who... I still want to...”  
  
“I know Frank.”  
  
She never flinches, never backs down. That should be enough but why is it not? Karen doesn’t need someone like him. She shouldn’t want someone like him and yet she does. And she’s willing to fight for it. He can have everything, he just has to hold on to it...  
  
“Will you stay?”

They’re by her bed when he asks her this. Her answer sends him to his knees.

“Yes I will.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sullivan Street by Counting Crows is linked below:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnIqqz7trD8


End file.
